October 12, 2011

President Barack Obama may travel through the Hickory area Monday as part of a three-bus tour of North Carolina and Virginia, according to reports by the Asheville Citizen-Times and the Wilkes Journal-Patriot.

The plan is for Obama to fly into Asheville and make bus-tour stops in Hickory and North Wilkesboro, according to the Citizen-Times. A White House spokesman said the president's stops have yet to be confirmed.

Obama's schedule for the bus tour will be confirmed later this week, the spokesman indicated.

October 12, 2011

After attempts to solve sewage leaks throughout the past decade proved unsuccessful, Newton officials hope their newest wastewater project pumps out the problem.

Work began on the Burris Road Pump Station in Newton this week. City officials say the construction should reduce raw sewage spills that have cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in maintenance and fines since 2004.

Since 2006, more than 160,000 gallons of untreated wastewater has spilled from Newton sewer lines, and more than 140,000 gallons of raw sewage made its way to the area's freshwater streams.